The present invention relates to orthopaedic implants and procedures in which a portion of bone is removed to which soft tissues, such as ligaments and tendons, are attached. In particular, the invention relates to systems and methods for maintaining the soft tissue attachment during an orthopaedic procedure.
Certain orthopaedic surgeries, such as hip surgeries, often require osteotomies of a portion of the femur to provide full access to the hip joint. In these procedures, a portion of the greater trochanter is removed. Following the surgery, the removed bone portion is replaced and secured in a number of ways. For instance, trochanter reattachment systems can include wiring, cables or clamps that are used to hold the removed portion to the retained bone long enough to promote healing through fusion.
In some orthopaedic procedures, a significant portion of a joint is replaced with a prosthesis. For instance, in some hip surgeries, the entire proximal portion of the femur is removed and replaced with the prosthesis. Since the attachment point for the soft tissue is removed with the bone, surgeons have turned to composite allograft-endoprosthesis constructs to provide a foundation for connection of the soft tissue to the implant. Usually, the soft tissue, such as tendons, are connection by sutures, so that the resulting connection is only as strong as the suture. The success of these types of reconstruction is historically low.
What is needed is a system and method that preserves as much of the natural attachment point for soft tissue as possible. An optimum approach would make use of as much of the natural bone as possible so that the attachment of the soft tissue to the bone is not compromised or replaced by a less secure attachment.